View Full Version : Premiere XDCAM HD plug-in from Main Concept


Alister Chapman
July 20th, 2006, 10:01 AM
Just came across this new plug-in from main concept
http://www.mainconcept.com/site/index.php?id=7850

It allows Premiere Pro users to import HD XDCAM MXF clips into premiere pro in thier natve format. Although when you start a project you only get presets for 25mb, once you have opened a project you can change the bit rate via a whole bunch of XDCAM presets to 35Mb. I even get full resolution preview on my second monitor which is very cool. This now means that I can import HDCAM using my Balckmagic card and HD XDCAM into the same edit package for editing and at 35mb, althout the caveat is that it will only export XDCAM MXF's at 25Mb.

What's so difficult to implement with the 35Mb codec???????

Don't make the mistake I did at first.. you should copy the MXF files you want to use from the XDCAM disk to your local drive before impoting into prmiere. This is where the Sony PDZ1 comes in handy as you can use that to select the clips you want, then transfer them to the hard drive ready for import into Premiere.

Alister Chapman
July 20th, 2006, 10:51 AM
The more I paly with this plug in the more I like it. If you plug in a dv deck it will downconvert and give you an SD DV output in real time. Perfect for feeding a CRT monitor for grading.

Simon Wyndham
July 20th, 2006, 11:25 AM
Nice. I've been wondering when Adobe would join the rest of the world.

Greg Boston
July 20th, 2006, 06:21 PM
This is where the Sony PDZ1 comes in handy as you can use that to select the clips you want, then transfer them to the hard drive ready for import into Premiere.

Have you been able to get FAM partial file copy to work in the software with 35mb clips? Everytime I tried to do that, it choked on the first file in the story line saying it couldn't read the file. Of course it reads just fine if I tell it to copy the entire clip.

-gb-

Alister Chapman
July 21st, 2006, 02:01 AM
No I have not tried partial file copy.

I have found that although there are only export presets for 25Mb, you can actually export at any supported HD XDCAM bit rate, so this appears to be the only full 35Mb end to end workflow at the moment.

Simon Wyndham
July 21st, 2006, 03:25 AM
It would be interesting to see if you can perform a partial file transfer using 35mbps footage. PDZ-1 crapped out on me each time I tried this.

Dutch Rall
July 21st, 2006, 09:47 AM
Avid Composer (we have the software only version) is working seamlessly w/ the 35mb files. Drag and drop from camera into an Avid bin.

Alister Chapman
July 21st, 2006, 02:42 PM
Dutch, can you export a 35Mb HD XDCAM MXF back to the camera with Media Composer? Xpress Pro can't export a 25Mb MXF to the camera while it can import fine.

Greg Boston
July 21st, 2006, 03:08 PM
It would be interesting to see if you can perform a partial file transfer using 35mbps footage. PDZ-1 crapped out on me each time I tried this.

That's exactly what I was referring to in my post, Simon. I told a Sony rep about it at the Apply/Sony seminar. Don't know how much good it will do but I have some other contacts higher up the chain. I will let them know also that it's not just my issue.

Have you told Clive about it on the XDCAM.AU forums?

-gb-

Simon Wyndham
July 21st, 2006, 03:32 PM
I haven't mentioned it on the XDCAM forums, although I have mentioned it to my contacts over here.

Dutch Rall
July 22nd, 2006, 06:32 AM
Alister,

I've been directing the files to external Seagates, so my need to use the Blue-Ray on the camera as a drive to go to and from diff editing stations hasn't really come up. I'm going to hdcam, mpeg2, beta or dvcam for broadcast.

I don't think the camera would want to re/de-code the mxf file. But, I'll try it and see what happens.

Alister Chapman
July 22nd, 2006, 08:50 AM
Would appreciate a test to see if it can be done. I'm sure many will only have XDCAM so being able to write a 35Mb file back to the camera or deck is important. However as you say most producing for broadcast will have write to HDCAM or a SD.

I so wish Avid hadn't crippled Xpress pro by leaving out 35Mb support. Another nail in the Avid coffin as I am sure 35Mb will come for FCP pretty soon.

At least with premiere i can mix and match just about any type of file/format I want in the same project.

Greg Boston
July 22nd, 2006, 11:37 AM
I don't think the camera would want to re/de-code the mxf file. But, I'll try it and see what happens.

That is one of the functions available now from FCP is that your finished sequence can be laid back to disk for archival purposes. Unfortunately, that means only 25mbs files at the moment cause that's all Sony XDCAM Transfer will process.

So that's part of the reason for wondering if Avid will do the same, but with the 35mb files as well.

-gb-

Alister Chapman
July 26th, 2006, 06:38 AM
Further testing/use of the plug-in has revealed that it eats huge amounts of RAM. I have 2Gb of ram on my edit PC and a 4min sequence with around 25 clips used up all the RAM to the point where premiere crashed. If this is the case the plug-in isn't going to be much use for most of us.

Alister Chapman
July 31st, 2006, 11:04 AM
Here's waht mainconcept tech support have to say....

"in our latest version of the plugin we have some problems with HD files and the memory managment.

We are working on a new version of the plugin which will solve this problem.

I would recommend to wait for the new version.
Unfortunately we don't have any release date for it but i think that we will release it soon."

So basicaly thier Mpeg Pro HD plug-in won't work with HD! Can't believe they are still advertising this as such and selling it, knowing that it dosn't work! More than 10 clips or 2 mins and it falls over.

Daniel Moreno
September 24th, 2006, 05:02 PM
I had the same problem you describe here when trying to edit XDCAM HD with premiere pro 2.0 using the mainconcept plugin.
After working for a short while in the timeline with a couple of clips, doing some cuts and crossfades premiere freezes and stops responding.

I wrote to mainconcept's custumer support and got this answer:

"Yes our plugin should have no problems to edit mxf files and we never had
problems to edit this kind of files. We are working on an update for our MPEG Pro plug-in and i think that we will release it in some weeks. There are many bu fixes in it and the editing of mxf files should work better. Did you try to rename this mxf file to mpg? Is that working better? Please can you send us a short clip of your mxf source file? If it is to big to send it with e-mail then i can give you access to our ftp server."

I uploaded a short video (shot with a f330, a short mxf file, full quality, not proxy) via ftp to the mainconcept server. And got this response:
"I had a look at your file and tried to reproduce the problem here but without
any problems. Premiere didn't crash in my tests.We will release a new version of our plugin in the next days or next week. I would recommend you to wait for this new version and make a new try with the
new version. We fixed some issues there which happens with MXF files and i think that the new version will work better with your file."

Has anyone over her succeeded working with this plug-in. could it be that I need more RAM (I have 1.5 GB)?

Alister Chapman
September 25th, 2006, 02:56 AM
When I spoke to mainconcepts tech support people they told me that they were aware of a memory handling/allocation issue. I have 2.5Gb of Ram yet if I had more than a dozen clips it would start warning me that I was running out of memory and then crash. More RAM will help, but to be honest I suspect that all you would be doing is delaying the onset of the problems. It's a shame because when it works, it works well reading and creating XDCAM HD compatible MXF's with smart rendering of cut/broken GOP's etc.

Lets hope they get the bugs ironed out soon.

Alex Raskin
September 25th, 2006, 07:17 AM
Alister, MainConcept does not seem to even acknowledge the problem.

I asked their COO: "Question: have you fixed the bugs with the memory
handling as reviewed on DVInfo boards?" (I then linked this thread.)

And Sep 19th he replied: "I don't know when this was reviewed, but the version on the web was released about 60 days ago and so far, I have not heard from any customers about any HD problems.

Adobe has been recommending this rev to their customers so I think they
have been pretty happy wit it."

Either COO is not aware of the problems, or MainConcept is not even working on fixing them.

Alister Chapman
September 25th, 2006, 10:19 AM
Well I spoke to Marc Hartman at tech support who acknowledged that "we have some problems with HD files and the memory management. We are working on a new version of the plugin which will solve this problem, I would recommend you wait for the new version."

That was some weeks ago yet the version on the site is still the original version 2.0.0.

I've since moved from PC's to Macs so I no longer need the Premiere plug-in.

Greg Boston
September 25th, 2006, 10:35 AM
I've since moved from PC's to Macs so I no longer need the Premiere plug-in.

Welcome to OSX, Alister. I added Mac to my arsenal a year and a half ago. It's been an overall pleasant experience (except for the delayed support for 18/35mb bitrates). Guess wer're both waiting patiently for the end of the month and the FCP update.

-gb-

Alister Chapman
September 25th, 2006, 12:56 PM
yes Greg, waiting for FCP, bu not nearly as long as Avid users will have to wait, and that's only if you have Media Composer.

Have to say the OSX experience has been very pleasant. For the cost of the media composer software I was able to buy a Quad G5, Final Cut Studio (via the upgrade path) and a decklink extreme Component/HDSDi card. It was a simple question of economics.

Scott Aston
September 25th, 2006, 03:23 PM
OT.. Greg & Allister

Since you both have switched to FCP, can you tell me if the render times are as fast (Let's say with multiple layered titles) as with a PC NLE..such as Avid Liquid, or PPRO2? I see some real advantages of FCP, but with my business I do a ton of titles and I have always heard that FCP has painfully slow render times...your thoughts?

Alister Chapman
September 26th, 2006, 07:51 AM
OT..

Straight forward renders of effects and transitions within projects are as quick as any PC application. Some of the export functions are perhaps a little slower, but the quality of rendered material is excellent. Most common standards and formats are handled in real time thanks in part to the decklink card including HDV, DV, DVCPRO, Uncompressed HD and SD. I get real-time down conversion to SD from HD, really useful for outputing to a grade 1 CRT monitor for grading of HD footage. Plus you get wonderful easy to use applications like motion and live-type for very quick, but amazing looking graphics and basic compositing.